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Tooley's Theory of Laws of Nature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Stephen C. Hetherington*
Affiliation:
New College, Oxford

Extract

This paper contains a discussion of a theory of laws of nature formulated recently by Michael Tooley. He sees the truth-makers for laws of nature as consisting of particular sorts of contingent relations between universals. He is not alone in this idea; it has also been advanced by Fred Dretske and D.M. Armstrong. However, its most thorough and detailed presentation is by Tooley. Being a challenging and stimulating idea, it merits investigation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1983

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References

[1] Armstrong, D.M. Chapter 24, Universals and Scientific Realism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1978)Google Scholar
[2] Dretske, F. ‘laws of Nature; Philosophy of Science, 44 (1977) 248-6810.1086/288741CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3] Tooley, M. ‘The Nature of laws; Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 7 (1977) 667-98Google Scholar